I’m watching a movie and to get in a club the hostess says, “It’s a 3 drink minimum, baby”. I have never been to a club that required a minimum. Do you just pay the equivalent of 3 drinks and walk in or do they actually bring you 3 drinks and you pay for them?
I always get the drinks. I suppose you don’t have to
Every time I’ve seen an X drink minimum, you pay for it via a cover charge in exchange for X free drink tickets.
I’ve always just bought X drinks. And the drinks don’t have to be alcoholic; you can just buy two Cokes or something.
ETA: Seeing the posts the just appeared below mine, yes, the places where I encountered drink minimums were comedy clubs and places with live music, and yes, I always assumed it was because they didn’t want people coming in just to watch the show without buying anything.
I’ll add that three drinks seems a little excessive. Two drinks seemed to be the norm.
I do not know if this still happens but comedy clubs would do this ALL the time back when I went.
The idea was not to let people get a free show and order water. You had to pay for two drinks per person (whether you drank them or not).
I’ve never seen a three drink minimum, but where I’ve seen a one-drink minimum, it’s because the club has some sort of live entertainment, and they don’t want folks coming just to watch without paying.
Two drink minimum was the standard for comedy clubs I went to when I was in college (in the 90s). I haven’t been at those sorts of establishments for years. Three drink minimum sounds excessive to me.
At music venues in New Orleans, the wait staff came to your table and took your order as soon as you sat down. They didn’t care if you drank them or not, but you paid early in the set and the implication was that if you didn’t order right away you’d be asked to leave.
Even in the LA/OC strip clubs where you can’t buy booze it’s 2 drinks plus a cover so unless you went on a special night or took one of the coupons that were in the sports sections it was 30 bucks just to walk in the door
The cokes were 6.50 a piece … …
How much for the whole coke?
:flees:
Not just excessive in cost but it leans on people to drink too much who might be driving later (this is why laws were passed force restaurants to allow people to take wine in a bottle home if a bottle they ordered is not empty).
Seems a bad idea and potential lawsuit to force three drinks…get them with a door charge if the place needs the money.
Like I said earlier, none of the establishments I’ve been to required that the drinks be alcoholic. You could order three Cokes and that would fulfill the three drink minimum.
How much do those cost compared to a beer? Can I get a $3 Coke instead of an $8 beer?
They still do it. But some now do a 2 item minimum. It can be drinks or food.
I was at the Milwaukee Improv not too long ago (it is neither in the City of Milwaukee nor even in Milwaukee County. Go figure) Not only did they have a 2 item minimum I was shocked to see they had Hamms beer on draft. I haven’t seen Hamms beer on tap around here in 40 years. They were getting $8 a pint for it. That shit is only $5.99 for a 12 pack at the Woodmans grocery store.
In Chicago I can get Old Style for $0.50/can and local pubs sell it for $5.00 per can or more. At a club I would think it would be more than that.
I get they need to make a profit but geez…
My (very) limited experience was at a jazz club with a 2 drink minimum. IME everyone there wanted to drink anyway, so it didn’t feel forced, and was probably just a pretense to be able to eject habitual cheapskates. The wait staff must have kept track because they got a lot less attentive after the 2nd drink. They also didn’t seem to care if you ordered cokes, and this was back when cokes were $1.50 at a bar. I’m guessing they just didn’t want the ill-will of hounding people for not drinking alcohol who might have a valid reason for it, as long as they didn’t seem to be causing any trouble.
The comedy club near me has a 2 item minimum. You pay for tickets to the show separately. But once inside and at a table therees servers and you have to buy 2 items by the end of the show; food or drinks. I usually have 3-4 mixed drinks and maybe a burger and fries, so I have no issue meeting the min.
Do they typically make the customer pay at the door with the cover charge? Or do they disallow people moving form table to table so they can keep track?
Most Canadian provinces have an “open liquor” law that forbids having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle, unless inaccessible to the driver. (For SUV’s etc. at leasr in back corner farthest from the driver). So put it away carefully in the trunk. I even got pulled over once years ago, giving a friend a ride home on my motorbike - he was carrying a case of beer, and the cop checked to see if it had been opened from the bottom to hide that it was open. (no). Just tearing open the carboard box of a 12-pack was sufficient to earn a charge.
I have used the “take the bottle home thing” once. The restaurant has a special bag they put it in which is sealed. I presume, given the law that they have to do this if you ask, that it counts as “closed liquor” if you are pulled over (assuming the seal is intact). Of course, it suggests to the cop that you have had some of it so may not be sober. Not sure how that works. But I do not think it counts as an open bottle in the car for legal purposes.
IANAL. Your state/city may be different.
ETA: I have a vague notion that back in the day, in Illinois, having liquor in the car that was not in the trunk was a potential citation. Of course, nowadays with SUVs being ubiquitous, there is no “trunk” that is separated from the cabin so, technically, any liquor in the car is in the “open” cabin. Obviously no one could buy liquor or drive home legally so I am guessing that law has changed or not enforced. r my parents lied to me about that (quite possible).
Here’s the menu for Punch Line Sacramento. They have Pepsi products for $5, “craft sodas” for $7, and “mocktails” ranging from $8-10. It took me a bit to find the drink menu; the user interface is rather strange, but once I noticed the inconspicuous “drinks” link at the top of the page I found that alcoholic drinks range from $9 for a Korbel split up to a whopping $22 for a “signature shaker” (but it sounds like you get to keep the cocktail shaker, so you’re paying for that, too). The majority of them are $14-15.
And if you want a cite that soft drinks count toward the drink minimum, here’s what their FAQ says:
What if I don’t drink alcohol, do I still have to abide by the 2 drink min?
Yes, but you DO NOT have to purchase an alcoholic beverage. Sodas, juices, sparkling waters and more are also available to you.